The Undertaker talked about his upcoming induction into the 2022 WWE Hall of Fame, during an appearance on Ryan Satin’s Out of Character podcast:
“There will be times that I’m smiling, but I’m worried about the times where I will probably lose my composure a little bit. Everybody knows who The Undertaker is. But this will be a glimpse into Mark Calaway as well. I’m only starting to get used to talking like this and being open like this. It’s always been really difficult for me to carry on conversations as Mark Calaway in these kinds of settings. It was just a few years back, one of my surgeons wanted me to speak at a convention and I was terrified because I’ve never given that to anybody. I didn’t even really know who I was other than that was my identity. The Undertaker was my identity, and I could get in front of 100,000 people, and I could cut a promo for 15 minutes and not think twice about it. But Mark Calaway, that’s a whole other story, because I just never did it. When I retired, we were still in the middle of Covid so there was nobody there. They did an amazing production for me, but there were no fans there. There were only employees and people that I had personally invited. So that one wasn’t as difficult as what the Hall of Fame is going to be. I mean, that’s going to be interesting.”
“This was the second call that I got. I was approached a few years earlier and they wanted to induct me then, but I didn’t have closure yet, and I was still figuring I was going to work a couple more times so I passed. When Vince called me this time, as I said, ‘Yeah, I’m good. It’s time.’ That let me know, you know, like, I’m coming to grips with the fact that, obviously, the career is over, and it’s time for that next chapter.”
